Brentwood U17s 19 Woodford U17s 9

Brentwood bounce back…

The first half, from a Brentwood perspective was much of a muchness. Their start was somewhat lethargic and I was beginning to wonder if anyone would notice if I snuck off and watched Wasps…the only bright spot was a charge upfield from Lewis however this soon turned gloomy when the lack of support meant the ball was turned and Woodford won a kickable penalty from it. 3-0 Woodford.

Just before half time Woodford piled on a huge amount of pressure, desperate to make their first half territorial advantage count they battered Brentwood’s line with wave after wave of attack but the defence held firm and Woodford came away with only a penalty making the score 6-0 at half time.

Given the lack of action from Brentwood in the first half I figured it quite safe to leg it over to the club house and see how Wasps were doing. I’m sure I’d have been back in time for the start of the second half had I not had to demand that the football, yes that horrendously girly sport, was turned off and the rugby put on. Honestly, what kind of a rugby club is this…As it was the second half started without your intrepid reporter and I returned just in time to see Brentwood jogging back to the half way line. Oh dear, seems in my absence they’d sprung into life. So here’s Brentwood’s first try as narrated by my mother, “a good run by James Adams was held up. There was a lineout which Brentwood won, a few passes and Matt Whaley scored which Charlie converted,” 7-6 Brentwood (and Wasps were winning too..)

Brentwood of course then did their usual and gave away an avalanche of stupid penalties allowing Woodford straight back into the game with another kickable penalty, 9-7 Woodford.

There was then a brief interlude in play following Chris McCarthy leaving a Woodford player writhing around on the floor but eventually play restarted and Brentwood were beginning to simmer. Sam Fry set off on a nice run which looked so effortless he even had time to flick his hair a la l’oreal advert. This put Brentwood in a good position but the ball was lost right near the try line. Start again then.

Brentwood were patient though and following a typically powerful run from Roland, Mikey put in a clever box kick to force a 5 metre scrum for Brentwood. From the scrum there was an epic crash from Sam Morgan who was followed up by Chris McCarthy and a try under the posts was scored. Charlie converted, 14-9 Brentwood.

Although a lead the boys were more than aware that it wasn’t enough and so set about inflicting the killer blow. And it nearly happened straight from the restart with a Brentwood surge down field as a result of some great interplay between both backs and forwards but a couple of passes went astray and the move fizzled out allowing Woodford to clear.

However it wasn’t to be too much longer before Brentwood got the score to put them safely ahead. A half charged kick from Woodford ricocheted into Will’s hands (back for a ten minute cameo following 10 months in the injury abyss), the ball was recycled quickly and out to Charlie who put Chris Doble through a hole. He charged down field and found support in Mikey who put the burners on (he even runs like Brucie!) and made it into the corner to score, according to Ian, his annual try. For once Debbie was also there to witness the try and duly screamed like a ‘proper essex banshee’ according to one source. The conversion missed but it didn’t matter as at 19-9 Brentwood were now 10 points ahead, a lead which they managed to hold on to until the final whistle for an important win in their league campaign.